Some of the traditional stops on the Verizon IndyCar Series calendar are easy to pencil in for 2015, and as more dates continue to take shape, it appears next year will be busier than the current 18-race schedule that runs between March 30 and Aug. 30.

Speaking with Hulman & Company CEO Mark Miles​, RACER has confirmed IndyCar's plan to open the season with two international races is coming closer to reality. Those specific weekends target visits to Dubai in the Middle East, and a return to Brazil in Brasilia.

"We're very optimistic about having Brasilia on our calendar the first weekend in March next year," said Miles. "And we're pretty optimistic about having one that's not in Brazil before that, so if we get both done, we'd be starting in the first half of February – six or seven weeks earlier than this year – and those international races would not affect the number of U.S. weekends because we expect that number, at least that number of weekends, to stay the same."

As RACER revealed back in May, IndyCar could open the year with a trip to the United Arab Emirates for a proposed street race in Dubai. KV Racing co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven, who also serves as a race promoter – most notably with the Long Beach Grand Prix – is also involved in the endeavor, and Feb. 14-15 has been mentioned as the target date.

Located in the Brazilian capital, the Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet road course was announced as part of the 2014 FIM MotoGP calendar, but was later dropped due to a delay in carrying out the necessary facility and safety upgrades required to host the popular motorcycle racing series.

Former IndyCar driver Vitor Meira is part of the group working on bringing IndyCar to the track next year, and recent reports suggest the circuit overhaul is now on schedule. The weekend of March 7-8 is said to be earmarked for IndyCar.

"It's additive; those races will reflect well on the series; will get us exposed to different parts of the world – especially the first one, if we can pull that off, and I think that can leverage more investment in the series from non-U.S. companies," Miles added.

Miles's current schedule construct came from the belief that IndyCar's television ratings and overall national awareness would increase if the series condensed its races to run at a more frequent pace over a shorter time period.

The end of the championship trail has also been timed to take place before the National Football League starts its season in September, leading to the Aug. 30 IndyCar finale at Fontana in Southern California. Once IndyCar completes its international stops in 2015, a repeat of the fast-paced scheduling formula appears to be on the cards.

"Once we start the season at St. Pete next year, we'll stay in North America until the end so we won't be popping around from country to country," Miles explained. "I think the schedule will be very, very similar. We have the same number of race weekends, between 14 and 15, and the same number of races (18)."

The domestic season opener at St. Pete was announced for the weekend of March 28-29 (LEFT), and with Miles' previously stated goals of building date equity – keeping the same races on the same approximate weekends each year – to grow audiences, it wouldn't be a surprise to see St. Pete followed by Long Beach (confirmed for the weekend of April 18-19), Barber Motorsports Park (date TBD), the second annual Grand Prix of Indy, which Miles confirmed after this year's inaugural running, in early May, the Indy 500 on May 24, and the Dual in Detroit on May 30-31.

With Detroit taking over the post-Indy 500 date previously held by Texas Motor Speedway, the 1.5-mile oval has followed the double-header at Belle Isle since 2012, and it appears the old Indy Racing League staple could either be in for another date shift or a departure from the calendar.